{"id":880665,"date":"2026-05-02T18:24:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T18:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/880665\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T18:24:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T18:24:31","slug":"nfl-executives-blast-steelers-for-calling-prospects-early","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/880665\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Executives Blast Steelers for Calling Prospects Early"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steelers News<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"PittsburghPittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy and general manager Omar Khan speak at a press conference at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex before the NFL Draft on Sunday, April 19, 2026 in Pittsburgh, PA. (Taylor Ollason \/ Pittsburgh Steelers)\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The Pittsburgh Steelers being on the phone with USC wide receiver Makai Lemon before the Steelers were on the clock in this past year\u2019s draft was supposedly not something uncommon. Mike Sando of The Athletic <\/a>reports that multiple unnamed sources claimed that the Steelers have done it before.<\/p>\n

The Steelers were on the phone with Lemon when the Eagles were considering the trade, with Philly unable to get ahold of him. The Eagles eventually made the trade anyway, and sniped Lemon away from the Steelers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey think they are tying up the phone lines so the other team moves on because they can\u2019t get in touch with the player,\u201d one unnamed executive told Sando. \u201cAll it takes is you to call the player, and if another team calls the agent and they\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, he\u2019s on the phone with so-and-so,\u2019 now they know who you\u2019re picking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another unnamed executive blasted the Steelers for calling prospects when they\u2019re not on the clock.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t make the call until you\u2019re on the clock,\u201d the unnamed executive said. \u201cIt\u2019s crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Eagles executive Jake Rosenberg tweeted the day after the draft that the move violates the rules<\/a>. The NFL said, \u201cThe league reviews all aspects of the Draft the week after its conclusion<\/a>.\u201d Nothing has been announced as of yet. <\/p>\n

\"SteelersPittsburgh Steelers general manager Omar Khan during the 2025 NFL Draft on April 24, 2025. \u2014 Ed Thompson \/ Steelers Now<\/p>\n

Many were harsh on Steelers general manager Omar Khan<\/a> for allowing the Eagles to swoop in and take Lemon right before the Steelers picked at No. 21 overall. <\/p>\n

The Steelers had a league-high 12 picks, but Khan was comfortable in not trading up. It nearly worked if it wasn\u2019t for Howie Roseman.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re being totally transparent, it wasn\u2019t like we were just trying to get to [pick No. 20],\u201d Roseman told Mad Dog Sports Radio on Wednesday. \u201cWe were trying to get ahead of that pick, as well, because when you feel really strongly about a player, you think at every pick he\u2019s going.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo say that we were willing to sit there and just get ahead of Pittsburgh, it wouldn\u2019t be true. We were trying to get up, we were trying to get the player. It so happened that we got in front of them, certainly, they were one of the teams that we thought would be in the mix, but more importantly for us than who anyone else wants, it\u2019s who we want and who we want to go get. And we wanted to get the player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some thought the Steelers panicked with the Max Iheanachor<\/a> selection. The Steelers disagree with that notion, however. They were not just scrambling to make a pick. They believe Iheanachor is a perfect Steeler and are comfortable with where they got him on the board.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s an offensive lineman that was meant to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers, it\u2019s definitely Max. His skill set, to me, that jumps off the tape at you,\u201d Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy said during an interview with Adam Schien of Mad Dog Sports Radio<\/a> on Thursday. \u201cHe\u2019s definitely built for this. You look at his background, his soccer background, you could see it, just with his versatility. Both in pass pro, and run blocking. When he gets his hands on you, he sticks. And he does a really good job of reacting to second and third reactions. So, I think he has a very, very bright future. We\u2019re really excited to have him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMentioned In This Article: 2026 NFL Draft<\/a> Howie Roseman.<\/a> Makai Lemon<\/a> Max Iheanachor<\/a> Omar Khan<\/a> Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> Steelers<\/a> Steelers News<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steelers News Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy and general manager Omar Khan speak at a press conference…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":880666,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2055],"tags":[4955,7,1641,34748,54564,6,1256,520,57,2360,426,2395],"class_list":["post-880665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-2026-nfl-draft","tag-football","tag-howie-roseman","tag-makai-lemon","tag-max-iheanachor","tag-nfl","tag-omar-khan","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-pittsburghsteelers","tag-steelers","tag-steelers-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116506387123781564","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=880665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/880666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=880665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=880665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=880665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}